Despite becoming more affluent, Glasgow's health problems remain

Research by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health suggests that housing, poverty and a family history of deprivation can also play a role.

Men living in some parts of Glasgow can expect to die up to 10 years younger than the average for Scotland.

The study of more than 700 Glasgow citizens is not yet complete.

'Usual suspects

BBC Scotland's Frontline programme has been given exclusive access to the groundbreaking medical research.

Researchers hope the study will reveal why people from deprived areas age faster and die younger than those from affluent areas.

They suggest it goes far beyond the "usual suspects" of diet, smoking, drinking and lack of exercise.

The lives of their ancestors from several generations past may doom people in poor areas to an early death, they claim.

What we're doing here is discovering something about the biology of poverty Phil Hanlon Professor of public health

Family history could mean that they have developed heightened body defence mechanisms to help them combat infections.

That wears the body out, predisposing them to diseases such as diabetes, heart disease or cancer in later life.

Experts from medical, social and psychological fields are working together to discover how this, and other factors, affect life expectancy.

They hope they can begin to tackle the appalling health record of those in Glasgow's poorest communities.

Phil Hanlon, professor of public health, said: "What we're doing here is discovering something about the biology of poverty - the actual mechanism at the molecular level of how adverse social circumstances create disease."